White keeps sheriff seat

Democrat incumbent Paul White won the Anderson County sheriff's race, but Republican challenger Anthony Lay finished a close second.

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By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Posted Aug. 7, 2014 at 11:32 PM

By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Posted Aug. 7, 2014 at 11:32 PM

Democrat incumbent Paul White won the Anderson County sheriff’s race, but Republican challenger Anthony Lay finished a close second.

White finished with a narrow 51.64 percent or 7,386 total votes to Lay’s 48.35 percent or 6,916 total votes.

In his efforts to unseat White, Lay tried to bring to light several issues he considered problems with the operations of the Sheriff’s Department.

One issue of the race has been what the inmates have been served to eat. Lay had maintained that, under White, the department has fed the inmates in the jail desserts and even run a bakery in the jail. Lay produced bills of sales to show the purchase of complete desserts and

baking supplies. White has refuted these claims in writing and verbally, saying that inmate meals are directed by state regulations and that the jail menu follows those regulations.

Lay had also questioned spending under White. The jail recently opened a new wing due to overcrowding in the old jail. White explained that this new jail was necessary because the State of Tennessee was going to decertify the Anderson County jail due to overcrowding and safety issues. White also defended increasing the jail staff and said that it was necessary to hire the correct amount of jailers to staff the new facility.

Most recently, Lay provided The Oak Ridger with a copy of an inspection report that detailed several “administrative” issues with the functioning of the jail. The report was from an inspection on the jail conducted by the Tennessee Corrections Institute. It cited such things as mislabeled keys, lack of key logs, and medication logs not being signed by nurses. A statement at the end of the report, however, commended White and his staff for operating a clean and safe facility and that most of the issues found could be attributed to transferring from the old jail to the new jail.

The Republican party swept the judicial races in Anderson county. General Sessions Division I Judge Don Layton, the incumbent, retained his seat against Democrat challenger Ryan M. Spitzer with 63.60 percent or 8,628 total votes. Spitzer received 36.40 percent or 4,939 total votes.

In a much closer race for General Sessions Division II judge, Republican challenger Roger Miller upset incumbent Democrat Ron Murch with 53.27 percent or 6,986 total votes. Murch received 46.73 percent or 6,129 total votes.

Neither of the candidates for Juvenile Judge were incumbents as the incumbent, Brandon Fisher, had resigned for another job. Republican Brian J. Hunt defeated Democrat J. Michael Clement with 65.45 percent or 8,810 total votes. Clement received 34.55 percent or 4,650 total votes.

During the May election, the Anderson County Election Commission website was inaccessible for about one hour and results were not being updated due to a computer problem. Those problems seemed to continue to Thursday’s election. The website was not able to post results until at least 100 percent of the precincts were reporting.